Central Pa. hop-growing farms on the rise; here's what they're like: Out with Sara

In the U.S. -- and even locally -- IPAs, the India Pale Ale, known for it's hop-forward bite, is the most popular reigning beer style among craft lovers.

5 favorite IPAs

Fun fact for those of you who think you "hate hops" -- you drink 'em. They are in every beer. They are used for bittering, flavor and aroma, and there are countless cultivars each with their own profile. Some lend a citrus note, while others are piney and dank. Other hops give floral aromas, and yet more add hints of spice or earth.

German Purity Law, the standard by which it is said beer should be produced, calls strictly for only three ingredients -- water, barley and hops (early brewers didn't yet know about yeast).

A trend toward not just "craft" beer, but locally produced beer has brewers seeking out locally produced ingredients to go into their brews. Until recently, it was nearly impossible to find locally grown hops or malts, but we're now seeing that change.

Central Penn Hops, located in Halifax, is a "small but growing" farm, and many breweries are beginning to grow small amounts of hops on their own properties. Chester County's Deer Creek Malthouse, the first Pennsylvania malthouse since Prohibition, is making craft malts that are being used in more Harrisburg area-made beers.

In 2013, Adam Dellinger started Sunny Brae Hops, a family owned local farm dedicated to growing high quality hops "in a way that is in sync with nature as much as possible."

Sunny Brae Hops is located in rural Carlisle, he and his wife both soil specialists turned farmers.

Sunny Brae Hops farm in rural Carlisle.

The farm is in its early stages of development, recently expanding from about a half-acre to two full acres of hop plants. The first wave grew primarily Cascade and Centennial; hop plants, like grape and many fruit trees take a few seasons to produce a full crop.

However, from that first year, Dellinger was able to use his hops for some small batch homebrewing, as well as for use in firkins (including a firkin of Brewery at Hershey's Hip Hops Hooray at Al's of Hampden, Troegs Full Moon Firkin last fall and a Victory Brewing Co. firkin at Arooga's during last month's Harrisburg Beer Week).

The recent expansion was aided by the local beer community. Troegs Brewing Company reached out to Sunny Brae Hops to show their commitment to local farms and resources, and part of their brewing team -- along with myself and local beer writer Chelsie Markel -- took a day trip to the farm to help plant two acres of hop plants.

List of craft breweries in central Pa.

The Troegs crew, including John Trogner, arrived around 8 a.m. at Sunny Brae Hops and began with a tour of the farm and instruction on the day's duties.

The Dellinger-purchased greenhouse starts from mother plants created via rootstock from the clean plant program. An established Washington state facility provides "clean" plants (meaning they have a high likelihood of being disease free) that greenhouses propagate to grow and sell to farmers like Dellinger.

While Dellinger said that this doesn't provide a 100 percent guarantee, the greenhouses runs quality assurance tests and follows USDA management guidelines to make sure the plants stay as clean as possible. Choosing this method is more expensive that planting rhizomes, but has a better chance of providing a healthy plant and often provides a bigger yield in year one.

The saplings also made planting easy (after the hole digging, anyway). We simply dropped a start into a hole, leaving the roots intact, and covered the base with soil before pressing gently to keep out excess oxygen.

"Not many east coast brewers can say they got to help in the hop field," Trogner said.

Troegs, Pizza Boy & Appalachian Brewing Company team up to brew new ale: Out with Sara

Dellinger said hop harvest dates vary by cultivar, but typically run from mid to late August through September. As the hop plants develop and establish over several years they create a routine, which Dellinger said will dictate the harvest times in the future.

The full team (myself included) plans to return to Sunny Brae Hops at harvest. Many of these hops will be used in future Troegs Scratch series beers, so keep an eye out in the fall for these special brews.